"A feminist gothic that evokes Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House." -- New York Times Book Review

Once upon a time Orla was: a woman, a painter, a lover. Now she is a mother and a wife, and when her husband Nick suggests that their city apartment has grown too small for their lives, she agrees, in part because she does agree, and in part because she is too tired to think about what she really does want. She agrees again when Nick announces with pride that he has found an antiquated Georgian house on the Dorset cliffs -- a good house for children, he says, tons of space and gorgeous grounds. But as the family settles into the mansion -- Nick absent all week, commuting to the city for work -- Orla finds herself unsettled. She hears voices when no one is around; doors open and close on their own; and her son Sam, who has not spoken in six months, seems to have made an imaginary friend whose motives Orla does not trust.

Four decades earlier, Lydia moves into the same house as a live-in nanny to a grieving family. Lydia, too, becomes aware of intangible presences in the large house, and she, like Orla four decades later, becomes increasingly fearful for the safety of the children in her care. But no one in either woman's life believes her: the stories seem fanciful, the stuff of magic and mayhem, sprung from the imaginations of hysterical women who spend too much time in the company of children.

Are both families careening towards tragedy? Are Orla and Lydia seeing things that aren't there? What secrets is the house hiding? A feminist gothic tale perfectly suited for the current moment, A Good House for Children combines an atmospheric mystery with resonant themes of motherhood, madness, and the value of a woman's work.

• We started tracking this book on March 13, 2023.
• This book was $14.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 7 times in the past 705 days.
• The current price of this book is $13.99 last checked 11 hours ago.
• This book is at its lowest price in the past 90 days.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past six months is $12.99.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $1.99.
• The lowest price to date was $1.99 last reached on July 1, 2024.
• This book has been $1.99 2 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $14.99 last reached on October 25, 2024.
• This book has been $14.99 2 times since we started tracking it.

• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 332 Pages
• File Size: 2,790 KB